Self Publishing Company MINDSTIR MEDIAhttp://www.mindstirmedia.com
Tue, 15 Aug 2017 17:13:45 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.4.10Review from author Rosebud Turner (her second book published with MindStir Media)http://www.mindstirmedia.com/2015/11/19/review-from-author-rosebud-turner-her-second-book-published-with-mindstir-media/
Thu, 19 Nov 2015 20:23:54 +0000http://www.mindstirmedia.com/?p=8611Here is the author’s review regarding MindStir Media as a whole: “My experiences with MINDSTIR MEDIA has been in a word – Superb!!!I have had several people ask me after seeing the professional result of my first book, Through Talen’s Eyes: A Visit to Grandma’s House, what publishing company I used. I gladly told them about MINDSTIR MEDIA. I wanted a company that had the same definition of “excellence” as I did, and MINDSTIR did not disappoint. The owner J. J. Hebert’s standards are evident from start to finish of each project as obvious from the caliber of people he hires and trains, to the personal interest he takes with the authors … That is why when I was ready to begin the publishing process for my second book, Through Talen’s Eyes: “Grandma, What Is Prayer?“I immediately contacted MINDSTIR MEDIA again … I can only describe my second book as beyond perfection!”

Rosebud’s experience with Kathy Lee, a MindStir Media assigned children’s book illustrator: “Working with Kathy as my illustrator for my second book, Through Talen’s Eyes: “Grandma, What Is Prayer?” proved to be a stress-free, gratifying, and rewarding experience. Although she was not the illustrator I had for my first children’s book, Kathy promised that she would work hard to make my second book seamless and “just as good if not better than the first.” As we went through the rounds of proofs, it was evident that Kathy had both the internal heart as well as the external talent to be true to her word. Once I received my author’s copy and shared it with a couple of trusted friends, I was so filled with pride as I heard the expressions of “Oh my gosh,” and “Wow’s” as they looked at the book. The vibrant and beautiful illustrations make readers want to be in the scenes with the characters said one child as she looked at the pages of the book. I did not think I could be more pleased than I was with my first book, but Kathy surpassed my expectations!”

“The book proof arrived today and it really looks great! Maria came to my house and we give this a “good to go to print” thumbs up!

Please give the team a big thank you from me and Maria. We would not consider going anywhere else to have our work published. Everyone at MindStir Media involved with the publication of our book treated us like we were the only clients. The attention to detail, patience, kind replies to our endless emails and quick responses were very much appreciated.

Maria and I look forward to working with you and the team on “The Long Ride,” the next book in our series.”

]]>Review from author Katelyn Medlinhttp://www.mindstirmedia.com/2015/11/03/review-from-author-katelyn-medlin/
Tue, 03 Nov 2015 21:58:57 +0000http://www.mindstirmedia.com/?p=8519We’re making great progress with Katelyn Medlin’s new children’s book, Rusty to the Rescue, and we’re happy to announce that the plan is to release it this month, Nov. 2015. She recently saw the full cover design that her MindStir Media designer created for her book. Katelyn offered this positive response: “Wow! I am blown away… This looks amazing! I am just so happy that it’s all finally coming together. Thank you so so much for all your work. It’s greatly appreciated.”

Keep an eye out for Rusty to the Rescue later in November. As with all of our books, this one will be available at Amazon.com, Barnesandnoble.com and other fine retailers worldwide.

I’ve been self-publishing and running MindStir Media since 2009, producing a number of bestsellers for myself and others, and I can tell you with certainty that you won’t sell books if you don’t bother with book marketing. I realize that sounds like common sense, but you’d be surprised by the number of authors who think that book marketing is some mysterious and magical thing that takes care of itself. It’s not enough to sell copies to your friends and family. It’s not enough to hope that someone will find your book. It’s definitely not enough to simply make your book available on sites like Amazon.com. If you want to succeed — and possibly become a bestselling author — you must have a book marketing plan and you must stick to that plan religiously. Abandoning book marketing is like abandoning your book altogether. Seriously, book marketing is like the fuel that runs the car… Throughout the years, I’ve worked with probably hundreds of book marketing tips, strategies and ideas. Some of them worked and others failed miserably. I’ve tested and tweaked. I’ve ended unprofitable marketing campaigns and scaled profitable ones. Today, I’m going to take some of the guesswork out of book marketing. I’m going to share with you a list of 75 book marketing tips and strategies that I personally recommend to authors writing and publishing in any genre. Think of this list as your “book marketing plan.” Obviously, you can feel free to make it your own and flesh it out as you see fit. Also, as you do some testing and tweaking of your own, go ahead and add to the book marketing plan. Whatever you do, stick to the marketing plan!

BONUS: 50+ Writing Resources

Before you read the list of book marketing tips and strategies, give this some thought: What good is book marketing if you don’t have a professional and polished book to promote? No good at all! That’s why we’ve compiled a list of 50+ writing resources that we recommend to help you hone your writing skills before you delve into book marketing. If you haven’t already studied our recommended writing resources, click here right now to get the list!

75 Book Marketing Tips & Strategies to Help You Sell More Books

1. Create a Facebook business page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/create. Having a Facebook page builds credibility, helps you reach your readers (and potential readers) and gives you a platform on which to control your message and brand.

2. Build a fan base by asking your friends to “like” and share your page. You can also run some cheap ads on Facebook in order to build a fan base.

3. Post consistently, meaning create a schedule and try to stick with it. There are many different thoughts on when you should post to your page. Use Facebook page insights to determine which days and times are most effective for your posts. Each audience is different.

4. Add value to the lives of your fans with your content. Don’t just send out “buy my book” posts. For instance, inspirational pictures or quotes usually do exceptionally well on Facebook and keep people coming back to your page. UPDATE: Check out our value-packed article “Advanced Facebook Marketing Tips for Authors and Entrepreneurs.“

18. WordPress (self-hosted): The most popular blogging platform, self-hosted WordPress, allows you to have the most control over your content and design. You can setup a WordPress blog quickly and easily through Bluehost. We’ll even help you setup your Bluehost hosted WordPress blog via our step-by-step guide! One of the things I love about a self-hosted WordPress blog is that you can choose from thousands of different “themes” (template-based, easily customizable designs) and install “widgets” that can perform highly valuable functions such as collect visitors’ email addresses (via optin forms) and even encourage social media sharing (via social buttons), etc.

19. Blogger: This is owned by Google, so some experts feel that Google gives Blogger blogs some SEO benefits. I’m not sure if that’s true or not, honestly, but it is a perfectly acceptable platform for blogging. One major problem I’ve noticed with Blogger, however, is that customization is quite a chore and the platform doesn’t offer anywhere near the same amount of flexibility as WordPress. Also, if you use the standard URL that Blogger provides when opening an account, you’ll be using a URL that looks like this: example123.blogspot.com. That’s what they call a sub-domain and it’s not as effective or memorable as a regular domain (example123.com) that you’ll use with a self-hosted WordPress blog.

20. Tumblr: A very user-friendly blogging website, but — like Blogger — difficult to customize. Probably not my first choice as a blogging platform but certainly useful.

71. Run special time sensitive sales (create urgency) and promote via social media.

72. Setup consignment deals with your local indie bookstores.

73. Create merchandise such as t-shirts, mugs, mouse pads.

74. Write reviews for other books to get your name out there.

75. Speak at your local library. An idea: Offer advice on publishing as a published author.

Before you implement the aforementioned book marketing tips and strategies, you must focus on creating a high-quality book above all else. Your book needs to have an eye-catching cover design; professional editing; proper formatting; and your product description must “hook” the reader. Your book’s price also needs to be competitive. Don’t overprice your book out of the market just because you want to try to make a few extra dollars on each copy sold. We can help you with self-publishing a high-quality book!

Do You Need Help Self-Publishing Your Book? Sign Up For A 15-Minute Publishing ConsultationDiscuss Our Publishing Services and Learn About Publishing

“J.J. Hebert, President at MindStir Media and talented staff at MindStir Media: Vision, Leadership and Professional… I am very pleased and happy with your services…

My manuscript, Alvin Stops the Bully: An idea came to me, I wrote it down, and then I re-wrote it. I balled it up and threw it away, until I decided to go ahead … and send it in. I was so hesitant while I was writing to say that “I am writing a book”… Thank you all for believing in my work.” –Harold McAdams, author of Alvin Stops the Bully

Continually study the craft of writing. Take advantage of all the writing resources you can get your hands on. Read books and articles on writing. Join writers groups. The idea here is to get equipped with the tools needed to successfully write a solid and publishable book.

Revise and proofread your manuscript until you are pleased with the outcome. Your final draft should NOT be your first draft.

If your book is a picture book, now’s the time to prepare your pre-existing illustrations or images or hire a children’s book illustrator. All images should be 300 dpi (i.e. high resolution).

Pick the book formats you plan to use (hardcover/paperback). If you’d rather go the ebook-only route (which I don’t recommend because you’ll limit your market and sales opportunities), you should look into ebook conversion and distribution services.

No matter what the genre, now is also the time to hire a book cover designer or design it yourself only if you are a professional graphic designer. Keep in mind that most self-publishing companies include book cover design in their publishing packages; however, you should only consider designers who create “custom” designs. There’s a big difference between “customizable” and “custom.” The former usually implies that the designer is working with a template, whereas the latter suggests that the designer is creating something unique. Since the cover is the first thing readers will see (usually), it’s important to put a lot of your focus on having a professional custom cover design created.

Obtain the ISBN and barcode directly from Bowker. You can also obtain the ISBN/barcode via a publishing package.

Register your copyright. Understand that in the United States, manuscript text is copyrighted upon its creation. As per the US Copyright Office, “Your work is under copyright protection the moment it is created and fixed in a tangible form,” and therefore registration is optional but recommended.

“Yeah, I love all the illustrations and format. The illustrations really make the story. I’ve showed it to kids and they’ve liked it so far…” –Peter Strzyz, author of The Littlest Polar Bear

UPDATE:MindStir Media is currently working on Peter’s second book as well. He recently provided another review: “As a new children’s book author, I found it extremely easy to work with MindStir Media. They make an extremely intimidating process much more comfortable. It’s a one-stop shop for all your authoring needs.”

“Stephanie (the editor) did an awesome job with the line edits. I agree with her changes. I had to also answer some of her questions to make a couple of changes as well… Thanks so much.” –Gregory Brown, #1 Amazon bestselling author of New Mind, New Body: The Inner Makeover for a New You

“The entire process of self-publishing was my first rodeo. Mindstir Media was nothing less than exceptional. Their team of professional, skilled and friendly staff was evident from beginning to end. We collaborated so well during the illustration process and the timely, ongoing communication helped move by book way ahead of its anticipated completion date. Overall, I am extremely pleased with my first book.” – Tanja Huston, author of Juju’s Big Surprise!